Mr Vaartnou said he enjoyed living in Perth, but would like to see the community care for each other more.

“I think the city should pay more attention to ethics,” he said.

“Here, people are very friendly but they do not care so much about others. They are just friendly. People should pay a little bit more attention to each other.”

The monk has had a colourful history, having graced the pages of the New York Times and Washington Post in the 1980s after he founded the Estonian National Independence Party during Soviet rule in the tiny European country.

He was deported from Estonia in 1988 into exile in the Himalayas.

He later went to live in Sweden and continued studying and promoting Buddhism.

Mr Vaartnou, when not travelling, now spends much of his time painting intricate Buddhist thangkas and often sits at his computer using 3D modelling software to design temples.

He will deliver the welcome speech at the conference and said there would be a variety of speakers at the conference and “everybody can hear something useful”.

* The Buddhism & Australia Conference will be held at Murdoch University from February 2-4. For more information visit www.buddhismandaustralia.com.